Death of the family holiday: school fines and office pressures force parents to take solo vacations with kids

Death of the family holiday: school fines and office pressures force parents to take solo vacations with kids

THE traditional family holiday together over the summer is becoming a thing of the past thanks to office pressures and school fines, according to a new survey.

Difficulties in getting time off work and finding an affordable vacation package mean three in ten working parents have had to take their kids on a break without their partner.

Nearly one in ten regularly does this, according to a survey by Nationwide Savings.

One campaigner warned that this is leading to the “break up of the family unit”.

Office stresses mean that more than four-fifths (81 per cent) of working parents find it difficult booking off the time they need for holidays.

Nearly two-thirds (61 per cent) have to book this at least three months in advance, the study of 2,000 parents with school-age children found.

The need to stagger their leave from work with their partner to cover childcare over the holiday period leaves less time for the whole family to enjoy time off together.

Overall, nearly three-quarters of working parents plan to take their break from work at a different time to their partner in order to juggle looking after their children outside of term time.

On top of the difficulty in getting time out of the office, parents face the additional hurdle of much higher prices for holidays outside of term-time.

One in four (25 per cent) of parents surveyed admitted having lied to a school that their child was ill or making another excuse so they could take them on holiday during term time, when cheaper deals are available and there is less competition to book leave from work… read more at telegraph.co.uk